Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Pemerintah kota mengatur lalu lintas di depan sekolah setiap pagi. - The city government regulates traffic in front of the school every morning.

Indonesian normally does not use articles like a, an, the. Whether you translate it as a city government or the city government depends on context in English, not on any extra word in Indonesian.

If you want to make it clear you mean a specific one (like that city government / the city government we’ve been talking about), you can add:

pemerintah kota itu = that / the city government (specific)

Is pemerintah kota the same as pemerintah di kota? Do they mean different things?

They are different:

pemerintah kota = city government (a single unit, the local government of the city)
pemerintah di kota = the government in the city (could mean any government body that is located in a city, including national offices there)

In this sentence, pemerintah kota clearly refers to the municipal / local city government, not just any government office located in a city.

What exactly does mengatur mean here? Is it regulate, arrange, or control?

The verb mengatur is quite flexible. Core meaning: to arrange / to organize / to regulate / to manage / to control.

In the context of mengatur lalu lintas:

mengatur lalu lintas = to regulate traffic, to control traffic, or to direct traffic.

Other common uses of mengatur:

mengatur jadwal = arrange / organize a schedule
mengatur keuangan = manage finances
mengatur kursi-kursi = arrange the chairs

So here it’s about managing / directing how vehicles move in front of the school.

What does lalu lintas literally mean, and is it one word or two?

Lalu lintas is written as two words, but together they form one concept: traffic.

Literally:

lalu (in this context) ≈ passing / going by
lintas ≈ crossing / passage

Together, lalu lintas = traffic (the movement of vehicles/people on the road).

You don’t usually change it for singular/plural:

lalu lintas can be translated as traffic, the traffic, or road traffic, depending on context.

Why is the word order mengatur lalu lintas, not lalu lintas mengatur?

In Indonesian, the basic word order is Subject – Verb – Object (like English):

Pemerintah kota (Subject)
mengatur (Verb)
lalu lintas (Object)

So:

Pemerintah kota mengatur lalu lintas
= The city government manages (the) traffic.

If you say lalu lintas mengatur, that would mean the traffic arranges/manages (something), which is not what we want.

So the order is:

[Who] pemerintah kota – [does what] mengatur – [what] lalu lintas

What does di depan sekolah mean exactly? Could it also be sebelum sekolah or di muka sekolah?

di depan sekolah literally:

di = at / in / on
depan = front
sekolah = school

So it means in front of the school (location just before the school building/area).

Other options and nuances:

sebelum sekolah – usually means before school (time), not in front of the building.
- e.g. sebelum sekolah, saya sarapan = before school, I eat breakfast.
di muka sekolah – also can mean in front of the school. It’s more formal / literary; di depan sekolah is more common in everyday speech.

So in most modern, natural Indonesian, di depan sekolah is the best choice here.

Can setiap pagi go at the beginning of the sentence instead of the end?

Yes. Indonesian is quite flexible with time expressions. Both are correct and natural:

Pemerintah kota mengatur lalu lintas di depan sekolah setiap pagi.
Setiap pagi, pemerintah kota mengatur lalu lintas di depan sekolah.

The meaning is the same: every morning.
Putting setiap pagi at the start just emphasizes the time a bit more, similar to English: Every morning, the city government…

How do we know this sentence is in the present tense, like does or does every morning, when there’s no tense marker?

Indonesian verbs don’t change for tense. Mengatur can mean:

regulates / manages (present)
regulated / managed (past)
will regulate / manage (future)

The time information comes from context, especially setiap pagi:

setiap = every
pagi = morning

So the phrase setiap pagi tells us this is a repeated, habitual action, which we naturally translate in English as:

The city government manages the traffic... every morning.

Without setiap pagi, you’d need more context to know the exact time frame.

Could we say tiap pagi instead of setiap pagi? Are they different?

Yes, you can say:

setiap pagi
tiap pagi

Both mean every morning and are gramatically correct.

Nuance:

setiap – a bit more neutral/formal
tiap – slightly more casual/colloquial

In everyday spoken Indonesian, tiap pagi is very common. In writing or more formal contexts, setiap pagi is often preferred.

What kind of verb is mengatur? Does the meN- prefix tell us something?

Yes. Mengatur is built from the base verb atur with the prefix meN-:

atur = arrange / regulate (root form)
mengatur = to arrange / to regulate / to manage (active verb form)

The meN- prefix:

usually marks an active verb with a subject that does the action,
often makes the verb sound natural as a finite verb in a sentence.

So pemerintah kota mengatur lalu lintas is an active sentence:

Subject: pemerintah kota
Verb: mengatur
Object: lalu lintas

How would I make this sentence passive, like The traffic is regulated by the city government?

A common passive version would be:

Lalu lintas di depan sekolah diatur pemerintah kota setiap pagi.

Breakdown:

Lalu lintas di depan sekolah = The traffic in front of the school (now the subject)
diatur = is regulated / is managed (passive form of mengatur)
pemerintah kota = by the city government
setiap pagi = every morning

Indonesian passive voice often uses di- on the verb:

mengatur (active) → diatur (passive)

Is pemerintah singular or plural? In English we might say the city authorities; can pemerintah kota cover that?

Pemerintah itself doesn’t mark singular or plural; Indonesian usually doesn’t. It can be translated as:

the government (as an institution)
the authorities

So pemerintah kota could be translated as:

the city government
the city authorities
the municipal authorities

All of these are natural English equivalents depending on style and context.

Would people really say pemerintah kota mengatur lalu lintas? Don’t the police do it?

In real life, traffic is usually directed by police officers or traffic wardens, so these are very natural alternatives:

Polisi mengatur lalu lintas di depan sekolah setiap pagi.
= The police control the traffic in front of the school every morning.
Petugas lalu lintas mengatur lalu lintas di depan sekolah setiap pagi.
= Traffic officers control the traffic in front of the school every morning.

However, pemerintah kota mengatur lalu lintas can still be natural, especially if the speaker means that:

the city government organizes / oversees / is responsible for the system or program of traffic control in that area (for example, assigning police there, setting rules, or managing signals).

So it’s more about administrative responsibility than who is physically standing in the street.